Saturday, August 15, 2009

I've been keeping a wary eye on the ongoing commentary and "reports" of the upcoming content expansion. The thing is, Blizzard itself has not reported anything yet, and we won't know if the goblin/worgen race release is even remotely going to happen until they say it themselves. The "excellent sources" that sites such as MMO-Champion claim to have can, in fact, be wrong. It may be an elaborate hoax. Or it could be a leak, either unintended by the Blizzard management or, possibly, planted to see what the public reaction might be to such things so that they can make adjustments.

That said, here're my thoughts on it:

Goblins are notorious for their love of money and economic-manipulation. Aligning themselves with only one faction would not only go against goblinish ways (in fact, aligning with Horde is cutting out the significant client base that is the Alliance), but also really throw the cross-faction AHs in the air. Language barriers would truly come into question, as well.

Worgen are, lore-wise, akin to the undead: abominations/twisted versions of humans, in many cases, due to Arugal's curse, though the original Worgen are from another dimension. How many of those once-human worgen were willing to undergo that curse? How open would the family be to discover their child, their mother, their father, their neighbor was turned into a Worgen? How accepting would they be? Would it be a "Aww my son turns into a big fluffy puppy now! Hey, you'll now be an even better shepherd, and can sleep on the hearth rug. Here's a bone, Spot!" ...or would it be a "Oh, lord, why has such black magic has fallen upon our family?! Out with the beast, before it eats us all! Let us mourn the loss of our son, and destroy the beast that has taken over his body!" Yes, the Worgen were originally summoned by a human and a night elf, but they also just as quickly turned upon their summoners. I can't see them seriously aligning voluntarily with the Alliance en masse. It would also require a reworking of Silverpine as it is a "no PvP, Horde-baby-leveling" zone, akin to the Barrens and Darkshore; allowing alliance to have a shared 10-20 zone with the horde is unheard of thus far in the game. If Worgen do become an alliance-only race, I would see them more likely starting down in the Duskwood/Redridge area.

*IF* the rumormill is accurate that these may be released as player races, I'm throwing my hat into the Cross-faction Race crowd and favoring that these nuetral races will be given a choice per player as to what faction they will choose, be it at character creation or through a series of quests leading up to, say, level 10. Both races could conceivably ally themselves individually with either faction, as both races are known to either fight against both factions (in the case of Worgen) or work amiably with both factions (in the case of Goblins).

We'll see what happens. I'm eyeing the whole thing guardedly. I'd LOVE to level a worgen druid, though... if I can roll one as horde, I'd gladly play a worgen druid over moocow! ;)

Yep, I am looking forward to the Blizzcon announcements to see what they have in store for us all. They have a lot of pressure to keep their huge client base in spite of the new games that will always be coming out, so whatever it is, it will have to be big and exciting for players of both factions!